Seven Foundational Principles of Population Health Policy

Abstract

In 2016, Keyes and Galea issued 9 foundational principles of population health science and invited further deliberations by specialists to advance the field. This article presents 7 foundational principles of population health policy whose intersection with health care, public health, preventive medicine, and now population health, presents unique challenges. These principles are in response to a number of overarching questions that have arisen in over a decade of the authors' collective practice in the public and private sectors, and having taught policy within programs of medicine, law, nursing, and public health at the graduate and executive levels. The principles address an audience of practitioners and policy makers, mindful of the pressing health care challenges of our time, including: rising health-related expenditures, an aging population, workforce shortages, health disparities, and a backdrop of inequities rooted in social determinants that have not been adequately translated into formal policies or practices among the key stakeholders in population health. These principles are meant to empower stakeholders—whether it is the planner or the practitioner, the decision maker or the dedicated caregiver—and inform the development of practical tools, research, and education.

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“…Recommendations on the process of public policy creation have been published, and are listed in Table 1 . ( 2 ) Created using input from various stakeholders (i.e., government agencies, legislators, residential and community care providers, professional and family carers, researchers, physicians, and people with dementia), the NDS is tailored specifically to the unique culture and demographics of each country to address a range of issues. Common priorities for NDSs include: raising awareness of the disease, combating stigma, identifying support services, quantifying the number of individuals with dementia, assessing and improving the quality of dementia care, and assessing the availability and access to diagnostic services.…”

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“…The extent to which children's mental health needs are being met provides an indication of responsiveness of the mental health system to population need, which has been identified as an intrinsic goal of health care systems (World Health Organization 2000). A health system that is able to respond to the needs of its users serves a number of overarching population health policy principles including health equity, accountability and efficiency (Bhattacharya and Bhatt 2017). Failing to address the mental health needs of children can result in negative outcomes at both the individual and service system level.…”

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